I15 The tobacco box

Narrator: Camillo Cavallin Reporter: Greta Cavallin



My great-grandfather was serving in the Italian army. When World War II broke out, he was sent to the front. At that time he was very young, he was only 22 and after the war he would have gone home and married his girlfriend.

He used to smoke a lot. He could not give up despite all his efforts. He rolled his cigarettes. He had a small metal box for the tobacco that he usually kept in the left pocket of his jacket. His girlfriend had given him a newer and nicer one to take with him during the war.

He took the train to Rome to join the other soldiers and then the time of fighting came.
The commander of the squad ordered him to get to the emplacement. After a few hours the shooting started. My great-grandfather accidentally lost his rifle and unwisely he moved to pick it up, but immediately a sniper shot him just to his heart. He fell on the ground, his fellows ran to him and saw that on his chest there was no blood. The young man, astonished and shocked, got back on his feet. He put a hand on his chest and he realized that the bullet did not hit his heart but the tobacco box. That small piece of metal had saved his life!

At the end of the war he went back home, he got married and became famous in his village. The tobacco box was displayed in the church. A hole in the box, and the bullet inside, could be seen.